Yarn Bombing L.A. covers craft museum in granny squares

The facade of the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles has been covered in crocheted granny squares.

The facade of the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles has been covered in crocheted granny squares. (Yarn Bombing Los Angeles)

Lisa Boone

When the group Yarn Bombing Los Angeles extended an open call for granny squares in November, the group was hoping to collect enough of the traditional crocheted pieces to cover the facade of the Craft and Folk Art Museum.

After The Times reported on the plans and word spread, the collective was bombarded with an astonishing 15,000 granny squares from 50 states and 25 countries.

"We couldn't be more surprised or happy with the outcome," said the project's organizer, Arzu Arda Kosar.

Now that the squares have been installed, Kosar said the group is left with a surplus of squares. What to do with 7,000 extra granny squares?

Kosar said the "guerrilla knitters" of Yarn Bombing Los Angeles, known for installing anonymous works in public places, plan to partner with the Downtown Women’s Center to create blankets for the residents of the homeless shelter. Some of the squares also will be turned into products for the center's Made by DWC store and cafe.

"Once we announced we had extra squares and were going to donate them to the center, people started sending us even more," Kosar said, laughing. "A lot of our participants are involved in activism so it resonated with them."

The museum installation, "CAFAM Granny Squared," has its official launch Saturday but is already visible from the street at 5814 Wilshire Blvd. It will be up through July 1.

For those interested in assembling blankets for the residents of the Downtown Women's Center, organizers are holding a stitch-in at the One Colorado shopping and dining area of Pasadena, on the north side of Colorado Boulevard near Fair Oaks Avenue, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 9.